Fractional Head of AI

Head of AI; Remote; GBP 250,000; Part time

Job summary

A marketing agency is seeking a Fractional Head of AI to lead AI initiatives that drive measurable client performance while improving internal efficiency. The role is part-time and remote, offering a flexible engagement with an OTE of £250k+ pro-rated for part-time. Ideal candidates will possess a strong strategic and commercial mindset, proven leadership in AI within marketing contexts, and excellent communication skills. This role requires collaboration with teams across various channels to optimize resource management and enhance campaign effectiveness.

Benefits

Flexible, fractional engagement

Opportunity to shape AI strategy

Work on impactful AI initiatives

Qualifications

• Proven leadership in AI strategy and hands-on delivery within marketing agencies.
• Strong experience with cross-channel attribution and marketing data integration at scale.
• Demonstrated success applying AI to improve both marketing performance and internal operations.

Responsibilities

• Define and execute an AI roadmap aligned to client performance and agency goals.
• Identify opportunities for AI in attribution modeling and audience targeting.
• Oversee multiple concurrent AI initiatives across client accounts.

Skills

Strategic mindset

Emotional intelligence

Communication skills

Organizational skills

Education

Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Data Science, or related field

Job description

Position: Fractional Head of AI – Full Service Marketing Agency

Location: Remote / On-site (as required)

Type: Part-Time / Fractional

Remuneration: £250k+ p.a. OTE (fractional role – compensation scaled to days committed)

Overview

We are seeking a strategically minded Fractional Head of AI – Marketing, Data & Agency Operations to work with a full-service marketing agency operating across multiple clients, channels, and delivery teams.

This role is designed for an agency environment where AI must drive measurable client performance while also improving internal efficiency, utilisation, and margin.

The ideal candidate combines senior AI leadership with hands‑on delivery experience, unifying fragmented marketing and operational data into actionable insights that improve campaign results, resource allocation, and profitability.

You will lead AI initiatives that deliver ROI across attribution, campaign optimisation, client reporting, forecasting, and intelligent resource management across strategy, creative, media, and delivery teams.

This is a high‑impact role requiring strong commercial judgement, technical depth, and the ability to influence agency leadership, client CMOs, and internal delivery teams.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic AI Leadership – Agency, Martech & Cross‑Channel Marketing

• Define and execute an AI roadmap aligned to both client performance goals and agency commercial objectives.
• Identify opportunities to apply AI across attribution modelling, audience targeting, creative optimisation, media spend allocation, and forecasting.
• Design AI‑driven approaches to improve internal agency operations, including capacity planning, utilisation, and delivery efficiency.
• Ensure AI initiatives meet privacy, regulatory, and ethical standards (e.g. GDPR, consent management, data transparency).
• Communicate AI strategy, progress, and business impact to agency leadership, client stakeholders, and senior marketing teams.

Hands‑On AI & Data Implementation

• Unify and analyse data across platforms such as Meta Ads, Google Ads, LinkedIn Ads, GA4, HubSpot, Salesforce, BigQuery, Looker, and internal agency systems.
• Build and oversee bespoke attribution models, predictive performance models, LTV forecasting, and churn or retention indicators.
• Automate client‑ready reporting and insight generation across multiple accounts and channels.
• Apply AI and machine learning tools (e.g. Python, modern ML frameworks, analytics tooling) pragmatically to deliver value quickly rather than experimental outputs.

AI‑Driven Resource Management & Agency Operations

• Design AI‑enabled systems to improve resourcing decisions across strategy, creative, media, and delivery teams.
• Forecast workload, utilisation, and demand across client portfolios to support hiring, subcontracting, and capacity planning.
• Apply AI to optimise project timelines, team allocation, margin protection, and delivery risk.
• Help leadership move from reactive resourcing to predictive, data‑led planning.

Programme, Portfolio & Delivery Oversight

• Oversee multiple concurrent AI initiatives across client accounts and internal agency functions.
• Ensure initiatives are delivered on time, within budget, and tied to clearly defined KPIs.
• Align AI outputs to commercial metrics such as CAC, LTV, ROAS, pipeline velocity, utilisation, and gross margin.
• Balance innovation with delivery discipline in a fast‑moving agency environment.

Leadership & Team Enablement

• Lead and mentor internal data, analytics, and marketing operations teams.
• Build strong collaboration between AI specialists, marketing ops, creative teams, and client leads.
• Raise AI capability across the agency through coaching, frameworks, and practical use cases.
• Enable teams to confidently use AI tools without creating dependency on specialists.

Client & Stakeholder Engagement

• Act as a trusted senior advisor to agency leadership and key client stakeholders.
• Translate complex AI outputs into clear, commercially insights for non‑technical audiences.
• Support new business and upsell conversations by articulating AI‑led differentiation.
• Deliver regular updates on performance impact, operational improvements, and ROI.

Emotional Intelligence & Change Leadership

• Demonstrate high emotional intelligence in client and internal interactions.
• Build credibility and trust with CMOs, agency partners, account directors, and delivery teams.
• Navigate ambiguity, resistance, and change with clarity and pragmatism.
• Balance innovation with empathy for real‑world agency constraints.

Continuous Improvement

• Stay ahead of developments in AI, martech, attribution, and agency operations.
• Continuously refine internal frameworks for speed, scalability, and repeatability.
• Embed a culture of testing, learning, and evidence‑based decision making.
• Ensure AI capability evolves in line with agency growth and client expectations.

Qualifications

Education

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Data Science, Marketing Analytics, or a related field.

Experience

• Proven leadership in AI strategy and hands‑on delivery within marketing agencies, martech, or multi‑client environments.
• Strong experience with cross‑channel attribution and marketing data integration at scale.
• Demonstrated success applying AI to improve both marketing performance and internal operations.
• Experience building and leading data or AI teams in commercial settings.

Core Skills

• Strong strategic and commercial mindset with agency‑side experience.
• Excellent organisational and time‑management skills across complex portfolios.
• High emotional intelligence and exceptional communication skills.
• Ability to present AI‑driven insights clearly to senior, non‑technical stakeholders.

Preferred Experience

• Prior experience in a fractional, portfolio, or advisory leadership role.
• Familiarity with CDPs, marketing data warehouses, and privacy‑compliant data unification.
• Experience applying AI to forecasting, utilisation, or professional‑services resource management.

Benefits

• Flexible, fractional engagement with remote‑first delivery.
• £250k+ OTE (pro‑rated for part‑time), linked to scope, delivery impact, and client portfolio value.
• Opportunity to shape AI strategy across a high‑growth marketing agency.
• Work on commercially meaningful AI initiatives with visible client and operational impact.
• Join a forward‑thinking, delivery‑focused environment committed to real results.